Key takeaways from this presentation:
- Creating and showing constant momentum through personal portfolio projects and volunteering is a powerful means of landing a new job as a Product Manager, especially if one has never officially held the professional title “Product Manager.”
- What are the kinds of projects, roles and skills to pursue in order to establish one's credibility in front of hiring managers and professional peers.
- Hone your experiences to get the PM role you want.
62. www.productschool.com
Part-time Product Management, Coding, Data, Digital
Marketing and Blockchain courses in San Francisco, Silicon
Valley, New York, Santa Monica, Los Angeles, Austin, Boston,
Boulder, Chicago, Denver, Orange County, Seattle, Bellevue,
Toronto, London and Online
Editor's Notes
Project management is a lot like keeping score at a baseball game -- it’s administrative
PRODUCT management is more strategic -- it’s like being the coach of the team and setting the gameplan
“Pleaes, tell me more…”
Sure, happy to do so -- actually wrote an article about this topic
… also known as mastering the conjoined triangles of success … (kidding)
A lot of wannabe PMs are like this guy: they want to brag about how qualified and amazing they are, but they have no record to back that up
Great PMs are like Talib Kweli and Mos Def: they don’t show off, they just deliver great work consistently
But I know what you’re thinking -- how do I get experience as a PM when every PM job requires I have experience?
Don’t worry, I know how to resolve this
SIDE PROJECTS!
PAUL GRAHAM: Don't try to think up a startup idea. "It's how Apple, Yahoo, Google, and Facebook all got started," Graham says. "None of these companies were even meant to be companies at first. They were all just side projects. The best startups almost have to start as side projects, because great ideas tend to be such outliers that your conscious mind would reject them as ideas for companies."
https://www.businessinsider.com/paul-grahams-counterintuitive-startup-advice-2014-10
FREEDOM!!!
Oooh … tell me more, tell me MORE!
You will learn sooo much working on side or hobby projects!
SKILL: Creativity
Such as breaking up your ideas into Gherkins
… (whoops, wrong Gherkins)
This kind of Gherkin! -- USER STORIES!!!
SKILL: UX design
SKILL: coding
SKILL: collaboration
SKILL: cheerleading
SKILL: getting coffee to keep morale high
SKILL: blocking and tackling -- yes, you may be the QB, but you also need to keep the paths clear for the talent when hand things off to them
SKILL: leadership
SKILL: charting a direction for your crew (team)
SKILL: Presenting
SKILL: procurement
SKILL: getting your hands dirty and executing
SKILL: delivering on a product!
SKILL: advertising
SKILL: marketing
SKILL: growth hacking
(Image of Andrew Chen)
Get skills at: HACKATHONS
Get skills at: STARTUP WEEKEND EVENTS
Get skills at: 3 DAY STARTUP
Get skills at: PITCH COMPETITIONS
Get skills at: INTERN AT A STARTUP (you won’t make much money, but you will learn a ton!)